A complaint from the Volkswagen board

From Germany this morning comes a complaint for the Corgi Model Club people to take up with the production line managers somewhere in China. "What happened to our VW emblem!?"

British casting people and painters managed to ensure that it looked suitably correct back in 1965 when the Beetle 1200 appeared in East Africa Rally form and again a few years later on the European Police Car in deep green.

The real thing.

The 1960s Corgi model looked pretty good.

The Chinese re-issues seem to have something completely different! Do they know something we don't about the future of the VW business?

I had previously given the Model Club full marks (well, nearly full marks) for their latest issue. Now, I have to withdraw some of that praise as it is never right to destroy something as important as a logo or emblem. Better just not to attempt it at all. Or, at least, spot the error at an early stage and fix it.

I missed this on the East Africa Rally edition too. I can, if I look at this from certain angles and relax my focus, just make out what should have been the correct lines for the V and W but it appears paint has got too thickly applied in the wrong places.

Corgi Model Club: the other Volkswagen with steering!

 

Another very good reproduction from the Corgi Model Club. Here they have recreated the Volkswagen European Police Car which used to be #492 in the catalogue. Following #256, the East Africa Safari edition, this is a case of some different paint and decals, a couple of figures inside and a beacon to replace the tyre on the roof providing a comparatively more profitable model for them this time.

As I recall, the only real complaint I had with the previous Volkswagen was actually the box colour. So there is very little indeed to moan about with this one. It is a great copy and only the lights give the game away from most viewpoints. Whilst these do seem slightly better cut that some jewels on previous models, they still seem more like plastic than glass or whatever the ordinals were made of. As a consequence they just don't produce that satisfactory shine or glint that the originals do.

People need to pay a little more attention to font styles and sizes across the board with their issues. As you'll see in my comments about the Hornby issues that are arriving this month too, this is an area where improvement is needed, especially in the box design. Here you can see the much larger sticker in the rear window, although the door decals are pretty good.

This a model you will want to add and no doubt you will also play with it on a desk for a while when it arrives!

Corgi Toys @ 60: More Volkswagens

 

The new arrivals in February 1963 were both from Volkswagen. First the 433 Delivery Van gets 'Trans-o-lite' headlamps, a coat of light blue paint and a big advert for Toblerone chocolate on the side. One has to assume that the chocolate company will have contributed generously to the Corgi coffers for this bit of advertising! A popular model with collectors, there are no known variations of the 441 model. It has free-spinning wheels and a lemon interior, left-hand drive.

The other model was the Volkswagen 1500 Karman Ghia, a stylish two-door car which in real life is highly sought-after now. The 239 model had an opening bonnet where a small plastic briefcase was stored and there was a spare wheel slotted in vertically at the front. At the back, the engine compartment had not only the outer lid that could be opened but also a clear plastic cover which could be lifted up too.

It always has free-spinning wheels and can be found in cream with a red interior and red with a lemon interior as well as two scarcer gold issues, one with yellow interior and one with red.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Lots of upgrades and two VWs

There was an absolutely huge number of new issues from Corgi this month 60 years ago.

The Racing Car Gift Set 5 gets updated to Gift Set 5S (identified by a small sticker added to one end of the box) with the revised models 150S, 151A and 152S. This is a particularly scarce item. The cars are common enough but in this box very hard to find and good examples sell for a fortune. However, great care needs to be taken as the only difference in the box is that little sticker which is quite simple to reproduce. There may also be an alternative rectangular black print on white sticker applied which is also simple to replicate. The earlier issue from March 1959 is, itself, uncommon with only 64000 said to have been sold. Numbers for 5S are not available.

With the 154 Ferrari model coming next month, these cars will have begun to look very dated and the set had a very short production period, withdrawn sometime in the next year; hence the very high prices demanded now.

Another 'new' model wasn't really new - the Oldsmobile had appeared as the Police Sherriff's car six months earlier. This is a lovely looking saloon, however, and was issued in two colour schemes, a solid pale sky blue and a metallic silver-blue, both with cream-white side stripes.

Another model that wasn't completely new was the Land Rover Breakdown Truck which now gets suspension and an interior - the now familiar 'S' upgrade.

Interestingly, the first 417S models retained the twin-bar jib device. These are quire hard to find and and scarce but not always expensive as sellers often don't appreciate the difference. By far the majority of these models will have the later solid jib device which continued with the next change to a plastic canopy and was renumbered 477.

Next come three more Land Rover revisions, the S versions of the RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover, the S version of the RAF Land Rover and the 406S now designated as 438 for the standard Land Rover.

The 416S RAC Radio Rescue model gets suspension and a yellow interior but also has a change of decals, now featuring the logo on the doors and RADIO RESCUE across the bonnet. The canopy is in matching blue and has no transfers or stickers.

The 351S RAF Land Rover gets suspension and a yellow interior too. This is an extremely rare item with very few produced and they command very high prices as and when they appear. As I have mentioned in a previous article, they are actually quite difficult to spot too as many photos show a colour that is hardly distinguishable from the 438 deep blue-green. I have seen maybe just four of these in the many years I have been involved with Corgis. None were at all obvious and I do have to wonder whether there are more out there but I simply haven't noticed them.

They should have an RAF blue plastic canopy but that is even scarcer and I have yet to obtain even one of those!

The new standard Land Rover that was available in a box was numbered 438. In all respects it is the 406S in a classy dark green or deep green finish, with cream plastic canopy. There are two quite distinct shades but I have yet to determine which came first. The 438 models will usually have a yellow interior but a red interior is also to be found.

This will be an extremely long-running model for Corgi and will undergo several small changes in casting as well as different finishes for the standard box issue - although always a green of some sort.

More revisions now for the two trailers, the 100 Dropside Trailer and 101 Platform Trailer now getting the fixed cast type of drawbar in place of the piece of bent wire.

Both trailers remained in the same colour schemes as before and similar changes will be introduced for the other colours featuring in Gift Sets.

The last of the Land Rover revisions for December 1962 sees the Gift Set 2 updated to include a Land Rover with suspension and an interior. The set retained its Gift Set 2 number and had the new deep or dark green model pulling the 112 red and black horsebox which, at around this time, also gets the fixed drawbar like the trailers above. Another colour scheme was also introduced in December for the whole set and the Land Rover and Pony Trailer had a fawn and cream finish.

All the fawn pony trailers had the new cast type of drawbar. The first trailers had fixed shaped wheels which are not easy to find as the majority were fitted with free spinning wheels. Whilst the red and black trailers did get the fixed drawbar and fixed shaped wheels, they don't appear to have been in production long enough to get the free spinning wheels. Similarly, you won't find the fawn editions with a wire drawbar.

Sets did not mix colours - they were either deep/dark green and red or all fawn. The ponies were the same as in the earlier sets, most seeming to have the blue coat but, as they can simply be switched around it is not easy to be sure whether there were red or brown coats as well in the new editions.

The fawn Land Rover is known with a yellow interior but this seems to be significantly scarcer than the deep/dark green one with a red interior.

The only really 'new' issues in December were the Volkswagen Van and Camper Van, 433 and 434 respectively.

The van is the first commercial model with suspension (other than one or two Major model revisions) and, indeed, is a welcome addition to replace the very ancient-looking Bedford CA Vans and Karriers. The van is always white over red but is known with both a red and a yellow interior. Some small numbers were produced in special finishes and with decals designed for some firms but none of these would have been available at this time.

The 434 Camper Van is also only issued in the one colour scheme of olive-green and a very pale green and it always has a red interior.

This is a great little model which still looks good today!